‘I cannot fathom how scared our children would be if they were without us,’ supermodel said during panel discussion

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US President Special Advisor Jared Kushner (2nd L) holding his son Theodore (L) walks back to the white House with his wife Ivanka Trump (R) and their son Joseph (C) as they return after spending a weekend in Bedminster NJ on July 29, 2018 in Washington DC. (ERIC BARADAT/AFP/Getty Images)

Back in May, Ivanka Trump faced massive backlash for posting a gauzy photo of her cuddling son Theodore, then 2, at the same time that widespread news reports were detailing accounts of young immigrant children being “ripped out of the arms” of their mothers at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

Facing criticism that she was “tone-deaf” and once again using her children on social media for PR purposes, the White House senior adviser appeared to show more caution about sharing photos of her three children with Jared Kushner on her Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

But Trump has returned to posting cute photos of her children in recent months. This week, critics came after her pretty intensively after she posted two photos chronicling her efforts to move Theodore out of a crib and into a bed like the one his 5-year-old brother, Joseph, uses.

Among the critics is model Chrissy Teigen. Business Insider reported that the outspoken celebrity rebuked Trump while appearing on stage with her husband, John Legend, at an annual issues conference Wednesday for the House Democratic Caucus.

During the couple’s brief appearance on a panel, Teigen focused on the Trump administration’s controversial family separation policy. President Donald Trump ended the policy in June, but thousands of young children have yet to be reunited with their parents, according to reports.

Teigen expressed the view that Ivanka Trump has shown “a lack of empathy” for the children’s plight. Teigen referred to Trump posting on social media photos of her children at home or out with their parents doing fun, engaging things. Teigen then mentioned the crib photos, though she mistakenly referred to Trump’s “daughter” in the photos.

“You understand that people love their kids, blah, blah, blah,” Teigen said, according to Business Insider. “(But) it’s a painful thing to see such a complete lack of empathy when it comes from people like Ivanka … that can post all day pictures of her children that are just in her home and ‘oh, my daughter’s having trouble in her crib’ or ‘my daughter’s doing this’ and there are children out there that don’t have that opportunity.”

Teigen aded, “Honestly, I cannot fathom for a second how scared our children would be if they were without us.”

Yahoo reported that critics probably came after Ivanka Trump this week because of the resignation of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Nielsen’s resignation Sunday brought renewed scrutiny to the family separation policy, in part because of reports that she was pushed out of her job because President Trump didn’t think she was being tough in enforcing his zero-tolerance immigration policy. Senior administration officials also said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking at a new program that, if implemented, would again lead to the separation of immigrant families, Politico reported.

Yahoo said it was perhaps “bad timing” for Ivanka Trump to share her “lighthearted” crib photos this week.

The first photo, posted Tuesday, showed Theodore passed out on the floor of the bedroom he shares with Joseph. Trump joked that her toddler may need to go back to using a crib, given that he’s climbing out of his bed at night.

Despite receiving a number of critical comments on the photo, Ivanka Trump posted a second photo, showing that both boys now were sleeping in beds.

While White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and others called the photos “hilarious” and “adorable,” and some offered tips on keeping young children in their beds at night, critics brought up the controversy over the child separation policy.

“Can you also get cribs for all the children you’re separating from their families at the border?” asked yet another.

But Trump had her supporters, including a self-described 58-year-old man who wrote, “This is a private moment that she chose to share with the American people. … This this is a picture of a TRUE American family thanks for sharing and God bless those little angels.”

Martha Ross is a features writer who covers everything and anything related to popular culture, society, health, women’s issues and families. A native of the East Bay and a graduate of Northwestern University and Mills College, she’s also a former hard-news and investigative reporter, covering crime and local politics.

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